“Speedway” is an Elvis Presley musical film vehicle that is long on celebrity and short on quality. Director Norman Taurog (“Boys Town” 1938) did not take full advantage of two musical giants starring in the film (Presley and Nancy Sinatra), giving them better songs to perform. Instead, his storyline has Elvis playing a NASCAR race driver with financial problems being investigated by an IRS agent cutely portrayed by Sinatra. All from a mediocre screenplay written by Phillip Shuken.
The top-rate support behind Elvis Presley and Nancy Sinatra include Bill Bixby, Gale Gordon, William Schallert, Carl Ballantine, Ross Hagen, Victoria Paige Meyerink, Harry Hickox, Poncie Ponce, Charlotte Considine, and Burt Mustin in an uncredited cameo as a janitor at a coffee shop. Mustin is a familiar face who was probably most well known for his part as Gus the fireman on TV’s “Leave It To Beaver” (1957-1962).
This would be Nancy Sinatra’s final film role, in a career that began in 1964 in a total of eight motion pictures, mostly forgettable. Despite obvious deficiencies, “Speedway” is fun and watchable escapist entertainment due to the charisma of Elvis & company, very successful in theatrical release for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.
Speedway (1968)
cinema
My Review
“Speedway” is an Elvis Presley musical film vehicle that is long on celebrity and short on quality. Director Norman Taurog (“Boys Town” 1938) did not take full advantage of two musical giants starring in the film (Presley and Nancy Sinatra), giving them better songs to perform. Instead, his storyline has Elvis playing a NASCAR race driver with financial problems being investigated by an IRS agent cutely portrayed by Sinatra. All from a mediocre screenplay written by Phillip Shuken.
The top-rate support behind Elvis Presley and Nancy Sinatra include Bill Bixby, Gale Gordon, William Schallert, Carl Ballantine, Ross Hagen, Victoria Paige Meyerink, Harry Hickox, Poncie Ponce, Charlotte Considine, and Burt Mustin in an uncredited cameo as a janitor at a coffee shop. Mustin is a familiar face who was probably most well known for his part as Gus the fireman on TV’s “Leave It To Beaver” (1957-1962).
This would be Nancy Sinatra’s final film role, in a career that began in 1964 in a total of eight motion pictures, mostly forgettable. Despite obvious deficiencies, “Speedway” is fun and watchable escapist entertainment due to the charisma of Elvis & company, very successful in theatrical release for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.